


Worn Down By Time And Rhythm

by pushingdaisy



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Parents, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, How Do I Tag, Kid Fic, Knowing me - there's gonna be angst, Meet-Cute, Multi, Single Parents, Slow Burn, soccer moms au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-06-19 11:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15508905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pushingdaisy/pseuds/pushingdaisy
Summary: Sara Lance loves her daughter. But her daughter has to join a sports team. And sitting and watching a bunch of kids trying to get a ball into a goal for an hour is not her idea of fun. Until she spies one particular gorgeous fellow parent on the sidelines. And maybe this won't be so bad after all.orSara and Nyssa's kids decide to set their parents up because I'm a sucker for kid fics.





	1. Chapter 1

“Mommy?”

Sara Lance glanced at her eight-year-old daughter in her rear vision mirror - already tilting to the right angle to see the little girl’s face – and offered a smile as she answered. “Yeah, kiddo?”

“Why do I have to do this?” Laura repeated the same question she had been asking for days, a huff of annoyance punctuating her sentence. 

The eight year old sat on the right side of the back seat, opposite Sara in the driver’s seat. She was still lacing up her new blue sneakers - knees pulled up, with her shoes on the upholstery so she could reach. 

Sara stifled a chuckle - not wanting her daughter to think she was laughing at her. She was strong-willed and would likely take it as Sara belittling her concern. “Because your school teacher mentioned it might be a good idea to work on your cooperation and teamwork skills. Especially after those fights you’ve been getting yourself into at school this week.”

Her tone had turned serious at the end of her response, letting her daughter know that she had not forgotten about her new penchant for getting into fights with her classmates and a fair few older children. Laura, however, seemed to ignore this thinly veiled warning when she answered with a question. “What’s coperation mean?” The little blonde looked curiously at her in the car’s rear vision mirror. She’d already been given the lectures about her fights, and she didn’t really care anyway.

“Cooperation,” Sara corrected gently, “It means working together with people, and doing what you’re told.”

Laura sighed long-sufferingly, head dropping back against the leather seat behind her as she pouted at her mother in the rear vision mirror. “I’m no good at that,” She complained.

She was right.

She’d always had a habit of breaking the rules - especially at school. A prime example of that rule-breaking lay in the fights she’d gotten into at school recently - three in the previous week alone. One with a boy in her class, and the others with older children. She’d won most of them as well, and Sara wasn’t quite sure if she was glad of that or not. Taking the idea from her father, Sara had taught Laura some self-defense and, being Sara’s daughter, she had decided to use those new-found skills for offense rather than defense.

She still hadn’t told Sara why she had done it, either; to Sara’s great chagrin. 

As a compromise with the school - instead of getting expelled - she was to be suspended for the week and join a team sport in the hopes that she could improve her social skills and teamwork. They’d chosen soccer, purely because there was a field nearby where they lived and because Sara was hoping that Laura would be able to keep from injuring anyone while playing. 

“Nor am I, baby girl,” Sara replied with an understanding smile as she pulled into the car park across from the field. “I suppose you must get that from me. But you can learn here while having fun and making friends. Sound good?”

Laura sighed over-dramatically once more as she hopped out of the car when Sara opened the door for her. “This stinks.”

Sara took her hand as they crossed the road, shaking her head fondly as she smiled down at her daughter - scuffing her feet as she walked, “I know, kiddo, but hopefully, you’ll have some fun and we can tell that stupid teacher we tried.”

“That’s not very nice, mommy,” Laura remarked, a smirk gracing her face as they made their way over to the assembling group of eight and nine-year-old girls, and their parents.

“I know, kiddo, and you definitely shouldn’t repeat it. Especially to auntie Laurel,” That remark earnt a little giggle from the eight-year-old before Sara continued, “Ready to go make friends?”

With a huff and a dubious glance between the group of girls and her mother, Laura gave a resolute nod, face set in concentration.

“I’m proud of you for trying, baby girl,” Sara tried to encourage her, brushing a hair over the top of her daughter’s head of blonde hair.

Laura flushed proudly but covered it up quickly with a roll of her eyes and a shrug away from the hand on her head, “Yeah, yeah, whatever mom.”

Sara leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Her namesake aunt Laurel had braided her hair for her before they left, so her wavy blonde hair was pulled out of the way into two little French braids. Sara would have to learn how to do that soon. There was a lot about parenting she still had to learn. She’d had to go through quite the crash course. 

With a cheeky smile, Laura turned and moved towards the group of little girls, all wearing matching pink training shirts with the sponsors adorning their backs in white and the club logo on the front.

As her daughter located a lone kid and went to talk to her, Sara looked around at the other parents present.

As usual, she was definitely one of the youngest there, but thankfully not by much.

She’d been nineteen when she started having an affair with her older sister’s boyfriend. And as naïve and reckless as she was back then, she hadn’t even thought of pregnancy as something that might happen to her. Oh boy, was she wrong, she’d realized as she stood before Oliver with the positive pregnancy tests in her hand, and a baby of all things growing inside of her.

She was twenty when she gave birth to her daughter, Laurel Lance, whom they had quickly nicknamed Laura, to distinguish between her and her aunt.

The rift caused between Sara and her family at the realization of both her pregnancy and Laura’s parentage was mostly ignored when Laurel was born. Things were icy between them, but they didn’t let that get in the way of their relationship with Laura at all. Sara was thankful for that at least.

Over the eight years since then, their relationship had settled almost back to its normal state – though Sara doubted it would ever return completely to how it had been before.

She still caught the occasional judgment from her parents over her parenting, and stiffness from Laurel whenever they saw or mentioned Oliver, as well as the frequent disappointed looks and sighs.

Thankfully, for her and Laurel’s relationship and for her own sanity, Oliver didn’t visit all that often. At just twenty one when they found out Sara was pregnant, he’d had no desire for a child, and had explicitly stated that it was a mistake he wanted no part of. Once their daughter was born, he’d mostly taken back his statement. Though he did not want any legal rights or custody over her (thankfully), he wanted to be able to see her. As it was his one request, Sara had hesitantly allowed it, and Laura grew up believing him an uncle. Once she was old enough, Sara had plans to tell her the truth. Though necessary sometimes, Sara hated lying to her little girl. And as bright as Laura was, she hardly got away with it anyway.

The mother was pulled out of her thoughts when she caught sight of her daughter waving back at her, an impish grin on her little face.

Glad she seemed to be enjoying herself, Sara offered her daughter a warm smile and a little wave back. Pulled back to the present, she set her thoughts back to observing the other parents present.

They seemed to have already separated themselves into little clumps, which Sara didn’t want to intrude upon as she moved to stand close by to the bleachers they sat on. Nearest to her was a strange little group comprised of a small brunette woman, a bespectacled older man, and a slightly taller but younger man who looked like one of the few people there who might actually be younger than her, though the brunette woman couldn’t have been much older.

On their other side stood two tall buffer guys, one taller and with messy dark hair, and the other shorter and with his hair lighter and a bit neater. She wasn’t quite sure whether or not they were together, but they seemed close at least.

In the row behind, at the back, were two rather contrasting small groups, the first were clearly a couple, holding hands as they sat side by side - a woman with brown hair streaked with blonde and a man with the stubble of a beard and short cropped hair. In comparison, the two beside them, on the other side of the bleachers, were little older than teenagers. The two men – or still possibly boys? – seemed to be friends. One was stockier, with a bit of stubble on his face, and very short hair dark hair. The other was wearing a blue coat with a woolen hood, his hair still short but just a bit longer than his friend's was. It seemed to Sara that they must be siblings to one of the girls, or at least something like that. 

Three more women stood on the other side of the bleachers from Sara, though one seemed to be standing apart from the others. Of the two standing together, one was a dark haired woman wearing a necklace adorned with a big red stone. Her counterpart was slightly shorter and was wearing a golden necklace with multiple pieces of different shapes in place of the single jewel of the other woman.

The final person, however, was the one who Sara’s eyes lingered on for the longest time. 

To Sara, she was easily the most gorgeous woman there, and quite possibly the most gorgeous woman Sara had ever set her eyes on. Sara was very single and very bi - she couldn’t help noticing how the woman’s long brown waves flowed free around her shoulders, falling down over a black overcoat. Looking past the rows of parents sitting between Sara and the woman, she could also see dark pants and heeled boots. She already seemed rather tall, even without the extra added height. And the way she held herself was additionally intriguing – she was both standing with an air of confidence about her, and also as if she was very on edge, ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice.

As drawn in by her appearance as she was, Sara hardly noticed the mysterious woman had turned until she found herself making eye contact with a striking pair of dark brown eyes. Her eyes were just as intriguing as the rest of her, dark and guarded, observing Sara with the same amount of interest as Sara was her. For the length of their short eye contact, Sara felt a strange sense of opia, one she hadn’t had a chance to feel before.

She thought she could see more in the woman’s dark eyes, too, but that was when she realized she was still staring at her, and that she had one perfectly poised quirked eyebrow and a corner of a full lip lifted in amusement aimed at her.

With a blush burning bright on her cheeks, Sara turned away, busying herself with finding her daughter on the field, where they appeared to be playing some kind of training game. 

She had to make a conscious effort to keep her eyes from straying over to the right side of the bleachers for the rest of the game, busying herself in a conversation with the group closest to her, when the younger man turned and invited her to sit with them.

The brunette woman she’d seen earlier with the group introduced herself as Lily. The older man was her father Martin, and the younger was her foster brother Jax. It was Lily’s daughter they were there watching; Mary was her name, apparently short for Martina after her grandfather.

Throughout the course of the hour-long training session, Sara came to find that she quite enjoyed their company, so much so that she hardly noticed when training ended, and she managed to be shocked by her daughter suddenly appearing before her, voice loud and excited. 

“Did you see me, mommy? Did you? Coach Hunter says I’ll be a good striker! Did you see the goals I got?”

Catching the little bundle of excitement in her arms, Sara grinned happily as she pulled her in to press a kiss to the top of her head of now rather messy hair.

“Of course I did!” Sara replied truthfully. She’d used watching her daughter to distract herself from the woman before, and had made sure to frequently check in on her during the conversation with the Steins’. “You were amazing. I’m glad you had fun, baby.” 

Laura preened at the complimented but then her smile turned slyer as she lifted a small shoulder and dropped it. “Yeah, I guess it wasn’t too bad. It still kind of stinks that I have to do it.”

“Of course,” Sara chuckled, humoring the child, “It must have been terrible. And you made no friends?”

“I didn’t say that!” Laura dissolved into giggles, clutching at Sara’s hand and pulling her up off the bleacher she’d sat down on, “Come and meet my new best friend, mommy!”

“Alright, alright,” Sara pretended to complain as she let the little girl pull her to the other side of the bleachers, though she really was glad Laura had made a friend. She’d never had trouble making them, she just had a lot of trouble with finding people who would stick around. 

She was turning around to wave at Lily and her family as she went - letting Laura guide her - so she didn’t notice that they’d reached Laura’s new friend until she turned and came face to face with the woman she’d been ogling earlier.

Obviously, the recognition went both ways as Sara had time to catch the smirk reappear on the woman’s face before Laura was once again claiming her attention.

Doing her best to push her blush back, Sara let a smile slip back onto her face as she looked down at her daughter. 

“Mommy, this is Amy! She’s my new best friend. And that’s her mama!”

Amy was a girl of Laura’s age with a messy dark ponytail atop her head, and the same dark eyes as her mother. 

“Hello,” The woman greeted, offering a hand over their daughters heads, “I’m Nyssa, Amina’s mother.” 

Nyssa had some kind of accent that Sara couldn’t place, and was distracted from attempting to do so by Amy huffing lightly, probably at the use of what had to be her full name. Laura quickly grabbed her attention again, whispering something in her ear that made the dark haired girl giggle.

“Nyssa,” Sara echoed, tearing her eyes from the little girls chatting to each other, with a smile, taking the woman’s hand and shaking it. Her palm was calloused and warm and she may have held on just a little longer than strictly necessary. “Hi, I’m Sara - Laura’s mom.”

Laura piped up again then, “Mommy, did you know that Amy doesn’t have a daddy either?”

For some reason that set the girls into another round of secretive chattering and Sara looked back to Nyssa with an apologetic smile, “Sorry, she doesn’t have too much of a filter.” She quickly ruined that streak of being a mature parent in an adult conversation by opening her mouth again to ask, “What happened to Amy’s father?” 

A blush immediately spread onto her cheeks at her tactless question and she closed her eyes, letting out a short, embarrassed, sigh. “I’m sorry. You can probably see where Laura gets her lack of filter from.”

Nyssa didn’t seem to mind, flashing Sara another trademark smirk.

“My ex-husband?” She chuckled in response. “Well, I realized that I’m not really the husband type.”

“Oh,” Sara replied eloquently. 

“Is that going to be a problem?” Nyssa asked. 

She was smiling but her voice had darkened and there was a hard glint in her eye. It was a change of expression very familiar to Sara herself. 

“No,” Sara hastened to correct herself, “No, of course not. It was more of a hopeful ‘oh’.” Her eyes slowly closed again as she let out an embarrassed huff, “I didn’t say that.” 

“Of course not,” Nyssa’s smirk had returned but she did save Sara from her self-deprecating internal monologue by tilting her head downwards towards their girls, her smirk shifting into a softer, more genuine smile. “We should get home. We have some things to do. Time to go, Amina.”

Laura was quick to throw her arms around her new friend before allowing herself to be led away, waving over her shoulder until the other two were out of sight.

A few voices called out goodbye to Laura on their journey to the car, and Laura seemed comfortable enough to call back and wave occasionally. Sara was glad to see she seemed to get along well enough with just about everyone in the group.

As soon as they got back to the car Sara tilted her rearview mirror down so she could grin back at her daughter, who was chugging from her water bottle and starting to tug her shoes off. “Seems like someone had a lot of fun, despite all the complaining about how much it stunk earlier.”

All she got in response was a suddenly airborne sneaker to the shoulder and a groaned, “Shut up, mom!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went into a writing slump, and when this idea wouldn't leave me alone I decided to get it out of my brain, and hopefully let it pull me out of my slump in the process. Also, I'm just a sucker for kid fics in general.  
> Netball is the only team sport I know enough about to set this in so I originally wrote that, but apparently, a lot of people don't know what it is so I switched to soccer. All the knowledge of the sport I am drawing from, like, a year of playing it almost a decade ago so bear with me.
> 
> Finally - if anyone actually ends up reading this please let me know what you like/hate/want to see because that will motivate me to write more, which will help with the slump, yay!


	2. Amina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi to anyone still reading this! I'm very sorry about the large time gap between posting the first chapter and this one, as well as the fact that there's no Nyssara. This chapter is mainly just to set up the plot and give more insight into the kids for anyone who cares about that. Additionally, I have an outline for this story but no prewritten chapters which unfortunately means updates are going to continue being pretty random, though hopefully quicker than last time. Anyway, let me know what you like/don't like!

“Hi there. My name’s Laura, what’s yours?”

A sudden close voice broke Amina Raatko suddenly from her thoughts. She’d been following a rather large ant’s journey across the soccer field and over her foot-- so focused that the chatter of the other children around her had faded into the distance.

The background noise seemed to increase in volume as she was shaken from her trancelike observations, eyes lifting to take in the intruder who had derailed her train of thought. 

Her eyes met those of a short, eager looking blonde girl who was holding a hand out towards her and smiling widely. She looked friendly, but so had everyone else that had befriended her previously and then left, claiming she was too weird to stay friends with. Even at nine, she’d learnt to harden herself against those sorts of people. She didn’t find she has much use for friends anyway. Usually she moved around too much to even consider keeping them.

The new train of thought that had sprung from the sight of the girl must have rendered her speechless for just a little too long because when she came back to herself, she noticed the smile on the girl’s face starting to slip, and the outstretched hand starting to droop. 

Usually, Amina would have been happy that the girl seemed ready to give up on her attempts at friendship, saving her the trouble of having to go through that later. For some reason, though, the quickly growing sadness on this girl’s face caused a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach- one that she didn’t much like at all. Despite not being very good with other people – especially those her age – Amina found herself wanting to find out how to make the girl smile again.

She reached out and took the proffered hand, shaking it lightly. “My name is Amina, but I prefer to be called Amy.”

The heavy pit in her stomach was quickly replaced by a far lighter and even less recognisable happy satisfaction as the same happy smile returned to the girl’s face, lighting up her deep blue eyes. “That’s cool. My name is really Laurel, but everyone just calls me Laura. We match!”

Amy couldn’t help the little smile that spread onto her own face as she dropped the girl’s hand. “Yes, we do.”

“Is this your first time playing soccer?” The girl – Laura – continued, nonplussed by Amy’s short responses and likely emboldened by her smile. “I’ve played before but never in a team- my teacher’s making me.” She rolled her eyes at this and Amy couldn’t help giggling softly. Laura’s tone was so annoyed and her eye roll seemed natural and well used.

“Well?” Laura encouraged once her giggles had subsided. It took Amy a moment to remember what she was being promoted about but she quickly remembered, not wanting to disappoint this girl by taking too long to answer once again.

“I’ve played it a little bit, but also never in a team.” She gave a little nod as she replied. From the few times she’d been able to play it at school with other children, she at least knew the rules and the basics- and found that she quite enjoyed it. This had prompted her to ask her mother for a soccer ball, and she had continued to oractice at home.

“Cool,” Laura’s bright smile was still in place. “Hey, I like your voice. Why does it sound like that?”

Amina shrugged, “My mother and I are from somewhere far away. I get my accent from her.” Her response was carefree but she brightened slightly at the mention of her mother – her only family. 

“Is your mom here today?” Laura continued, peering over Amy’s shoulder at the bleachers the parents had congregated at. “Mine is-- that’s her there.”

Amy turned as Laura gave a wave to a woman standing near the bleachers. The woman with the same blonde hair as Laura was quick to smile and wave back. 

“Yes, she is,” Amina smiled as she replied, “That’s her, on the other side.” She waved to her own mother to demonstrate.

As her mama waved back, Laura continued. “She looks cool. Is your dad here?”

Amy kicked at the grass with her dirty sneaker, used to the question by now. “I don’t have a dad, just a mother.”

Laura turned from the bleachers to grin at her, “Hey, me too! There’s a lot about us that’s the same.”

Amy couldn’t see many common factors between the two, but she still gave the girl a smile and a nod, “Yes, we do.” It was worth it for the smile brightening on her new friend’s face.

As they finished speaking, a man walked over towards them. Amina had observed him setting up the field as she had arrived, and mingling amongst the parents as they arrived. She knew from her mother that he was the coach, and as he smiled down at them he introduced himself as such. He was, in fact, the coach; and his name was coach Hunter. After he’d learnt their names and marked them off of a checklist on a clipboard he carried, he called out to the other and gather them all around into a little clump.

There were nine other girls of around the same age and they quickly formed a messy, loose circle. 

After some brief introductions and general instructions, they got started with some fun warm up games. Laura seems happy to introduce herself to some of the other girls, but Amy mostly stuck to Laura and her own thoughts. After the introductions and some games, Amy could confirm that the other girls all seemed nice; but she still was more comfortable sticking with her already chosen company.

“Hey, I had an idea,” Laura spoke up suddenly as they were walking to their drink bottles for a water break between games. Amina glanced over at her and nodded for her to continue. 

Laura happily obliged. “If our mommies got married, we’d be sisters,” She remarked matter-of-factly.

Amy couldn’t help grinning at the thought, “That’d be really cool.” Laura was already the best friend she’d had in, like, forever. Not to mention, it had been just her and her mother for as long as she could remember. It would be nice to have more family.

“But until then we can still be friends right?” Laura asked hopefully, lips pursed in thought. When Amy nodded and smiled she continued, encouraged. “Or best friends?”

She looked so soft and hopeful that Amy couldn’t help nodding insistently, “Of course we can. You’re already the best friend I’ve ever had. Even if we became sisters, you’d still be my best friend. We’d just be even better friends!”

Laura seemed shocked and pleased by her sudden outburst, a faint blush covering her freckled cheeks. It was the most Amy had said to her for the whole of training, but it had to be said. She already really liked Laura and the thought of losing her made her very sad, despite how long they’d known each other.

Amy saved either of them from any embarrassment by picking up the blue drink bottle she’d seen Laura place down when training started, and offering it to her. Laura busied herself sipping from it as Amy grabbed her own and drank greedily. 

As they headed back onto the field to continue the training session, Laura turned to her with a mischievous grin. “We should make our moms meet, and then try and make them fall in love so we can be sisters and even better friends.”

Amina giggled at the thought. It sounded rather ridiculous to her, but the idea was still entertaining and seemed to make Laura happy. It was easy to agree to. “Okay, deal.”

Laura stuck out a hand and Amy smiled softly as she shook it in agreement.

They stuck by each other as the training session progressed, idly plotting and talking about their mothers. They actually did have a bit more in common then they originally knew and Amy delighted in the bright smiles Laura directed her way every time she found something else out that they had in common. Each one had Amy thinking of just how much she’d do to keep her new friend smiling like that. 

All too soon, coach Hunter called for them to come in and warm down—and then training was over.

Amy spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to her mother about her new friend, with Nyssa humouring her the whole time and continuing to listen.

She couldn’t wait until the game on the weekend, which would be the next time she could see Laura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the other kids in the soccer team are going to be children of other Legends, however i've only come up with ideas for a few. I'm thinking I might bring in some characters from the other Arrowverse shows to have kids in the team. Let me know which other characters you might want to see in this, or if anyone has any ideas for other second gen kids they'd want me to put in!

**Author's Note:**

> So I went into a writing slump, and when this idea wouldn't leave me alone I decided to get it out of my brain, and hopefully let it pull me out of my slump in the process. Also, I'm just a sucker for kid fics in general.  
> Netball is the only team sport I know enough about to set this in so I originally wrote that, but apparently, a lot of people don't know what it is so I switched to soccer. All the knowledge of the sport I am drawing from, like, a year of playing it almost a decade ago so bear with me.
> 
> Finally - if anyone actually ends up reading this please let me know what you like/hate/want to see because that will motivate me to write more, which will help with the slump, yay!


End file.
